"There is a house in New Orleans they call the rising sun..." If you know these guys, it's probably because of their famous cover of "House Of The Rising Sun". Their lead singer, Eric Burdon, is well known for his intense-bluesy vocals. Can this guy ever add soul to a song! Powerful vocals backed by some fab keyboard and guitar make for some really great music. If you like to feel the music too, these guys are great. However, they weren't together too long... came into the spotlight in '64 and were split up by late '66.
However, Eric Burdon went on to form Eric Burdon & The Animals , who had a hit with "San Franciscan Nights" in '67 (well, summer of love, what can you expect with a title like that!). Essentially, the powerful vocals remained, but the musical style was more psychedelic, more varied than the R&B base with The Animals. Definetly check out both these bands. Especially if you like the early Rolling Stones, and ummm... oh man, I can't think of the other band I was going to say... Well, if you like those bluesy-kinda feeling songs Eric Clapton sang with Cream then you'd probably dig it too... Anyway, they're a good band, so check'em out anyway. : )
Check out Eric Burdon's Official Page if you like!
Alright, before I even start to write, you're gonna assume I'm gonna write about the Beatles. Well, yeah they are the most obvious band for me to do, but there are millions (okay, maybe not literally, but still...) of sites dedicated to them. And rightly so, they were the most influential band in modern pop/rock history. I think they're unbelievably fab (they're the ones who introduced me to the '60s and the BritInvasion and so on) and we owe a lot to them, but I also feel that there are other "B" bands who deserve a chance in the limelight... so, without further adue...
These guys have had quite a few well-known hits. For instance: "Mr.Tambourine Man", "Turn!Turn!Turn!(to everything there is a season)" and quite a few others. Their "sound" is instantly recognizable. Jangly 12-string guitar with sometimes haunting vocals. They were billed as "America's answer to the Beatles" when they toured the UK. Which put a lot of pressure on them, I imagine. (The Beatles are the ones who inspired that 12-string guitar that established their sound) It must have been hard billed as a group that's supposed to be as good as the Beatles! (I have to say they come close...)
They did quite a few Bob Dylan covers when they started out ('Mr.Tambourine Man' is just one of the Dylan covers that became a hit for them), but as they progressed (err, and I guess you could say took more psychedelic drugs) they relied on their own writing. They definetly got psychedelic. "Eight Miles High" and "Renaissance Fair" are two great examples of this. They did some really superb psychedelic stuff. "Mind Gardens" off the "Younger Than Yesterday" album is a great example of beautiful psychedelic poetry IMHO. As it got later on in their career, they concentrated more on Country music... I really don't care much for that phase of theirs, but if you like Country check out some of their later stuff like "Sweetheart of the Rodeo". Crosby went on to join Crosy,Stills,Nash & Young and I am honestly not sure what happened to the rest of them... I don't know much in the line of history of these guys... I saw McGuinn on the telly awhile ago playing 'Eight Miles High' for some history of rock show. I just about fell into a transe watching his fingers and hearing that amazing sound! : ) If you know the Beatles' song "What You're Doing" and like the guitar, the Byrds are DEFINETLY for you. If you like the Beatles in general, you'll like the Byrds. If you like those BritInvasion types you'll probably like "America's answer." Fab band. Definetly worth a listen.